Peter and I took both XTs out for a fun loop around the southern Santa Cruz mountains yesterday. It was essentially the same route that Jenny and I did in February: about 80 miles of street, gravel, packed dirt, and some ruts/tree roots/small rocks. We figured it’d be a great test run for Peter to see how well he liked the XT.
Quick shade break at Chitactac-Adams County Park:
Peter took some great photos of me in the redwood forest along Mt Madonna Road:
I actually remembered my tripod this time! It made photos much easier back there in the dark woods. I was very encouraged that occasionally I can learn from past mistakes.
I stopped for photos a couple of times on Summit, but it was really hot out and there wasn’t much shade. Not wanting a grumpy sweetie, I made the photo stops short and pretty far between.
It wouldn’t be a dirt ride without someone’s bike on its side, so I fell on that sword (somewhat literally) and tipped over when doing a U-turn at the top of Summit/Loma Prieta. I’m still not even sure what happened; I just couldn’t find my footpeg and decided that the best way to deal with that would be to stare at the ground. It wasn’t a very good crash, as dirt riding goes, though; it didn’t even knock the mirror out of alignment. Ah well. 😉
I think that overall, Peter enjoyed the XT, but we need to make a couple of comfort mods. Some of the guys on the XT225 message board have some recommendations for tall riders; one of the members is pretty much exactly Peter’s height/weight, so I’ll be bothering him for suggestions. I think that larger footpegs and a super-easy seat mod are on our short list of changes to make so that Peter will ride with me again. 😉
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